When I make a roux for soups and sauces it always ends up tasting like the flour. What is the correct way to make roux? How long does the flour need to cook out of it?
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Cook it longer, and watch your proportions. If it's too dry (not enough fat), it's hard to cook through without burning it. You want to get to a golden brown color throughout. You can cook it until it's darker and it'll add more caramel/nutty flavor (don't burn it), but it has to be at least a golden color before it's cooked enough to not taste of raw flour. When in doubt, taste it. If it tastes raw still, go a bit longer.
A good start for proportions is 1 part flour to one part fat--by weight, not by volume. Start with your fat in the pot, and get it nice and warm but not blazing hot, then add your flour a bit at a time, stirring (or better yet, whisking) for a couple of seconds to incorporate it smoothly before adding more. Stop adding (no matter how much flour you've used) when you get a slightly soft paste. Not too runny, but not as stiff as toothpaste either. I've yet to find a common thing people can agree on that has the right consistency to describe it, unfortunately. When you get the right consistency you need to keep stirring it over the heat until you get that golden brown color.
I admit that it's a little imprecise, but it really is a thing I do by feel and experience, based on what I said above as my original starting point. I've learned how I like it over the years, but I started with that.
bikeboy389
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I've found that using whole wheat flour to start with reduces that some as well... it gives a slightly more nutty flavor. – cabbey Nov 15 '10 at 04:51
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Are there any negatives to using a lot of fat? – Cocowalla Jul 14 '15 at 12:54
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2@Cocowalla, Too much fat and some won't be bound to the flour. If nothing else in the sauce will emulsify it an oil slick will form. – Shannon Severance May 05 '16 at 15:57
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Sounds like you need to cut your flour back. I use 1/4 cup wheat flour to 1/2 oil and mine comes out perfect everytime :)
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Add butter until the floury taste is gone. Good Luck
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Welcome to Seasoned Advice! I have to agree with Sneftel here, simply adding butter will not fix the taste of uncooked/undercooked flour in a roux (or anything else, for that matter.) When answering a question on the site, please stick to the guidelines for How to Answer (https://cooking.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-answer); one good tip is to try to answer in such a way that is helpful to both the person posting the question as well as any others who might come across the question in the future. – Incorporeal Logic Oct 18 '20 at 04:36